local
Do US Jews Care About Israeli
Politics as Much as the State Itself?
J HEATHER M.ROSS | STAFF WRITER
ews living in the United
States profess a strong sense
of care toward Israel, but are
they as deeply invested in Israeli
politics? According to a study conducted
by the Pew Research Center, 80%
of U.S. Jews said that caring about
Israel is an essential or important
part of what being Jewish means to
them. Yet only 57% said they follow
news about Israel somewhat or very
closely. Given the recent turmoil in Israel
— with the coalition government
dissolving and a fifth round of elec-
tions in the past three years on the
horizon, the Jewish Exponent contacted
several Philadelphia Jews and asked a
few general questions to gauge the level
of interest in Israeli politics locally.

“I’m an immigrant, the son of
Holocaust survivors. I know what hap-
pened without Israel,” said Richard
Tems, a Jewish Doylestown resident,
retired business owner and veteran.

Tems expressed concern about
American Jews debating and judging
policy in Israel while being uninformed
and not putting in the energy necessary
to staying up to date.

According to Tems, people don’t
need to look very hard for informa-
tion if they want to stay involved: “It’s
there if you want it. It’s on the internet.

Left and right Israeli newspapers, in
English!” Only one person said they followed
politics in Israel closely, although most
knew and regularly interacted with at
least one person who did so.

But is it a problem if U.S. Jews don’t
follow Israeli politics?
According to Theodore Kosin of
Bucks County, it is.

“If you don’t know history and the
news, the news is history — you’re
destined to repeat it. And knowing our
history, we don’t want that,” said Kosin,
who added that he tries to address the
issue by making sure his own family is
educated and involved.

“Just talk about it (with your fam-
ily),” Kosin said.

Kosin said the way young people
consume news is changing, and many
don’t follow it because they are too
busy. Some news platforms have adapted
to that by adding TikTok — its users
are primarily between the ages of
16 and 24 — to their list of social
media accounts. Videos on TikTok
can be as long as 10 minutes, but
it’s rare for one to be longer than 3
minutes. Why are some Jews in the United
States less attached to Israel?
Research indicates that the level
of attachment to Israel varies pri-
marily by age and religion.

Jews ages 50 and older are more
attached to Israel than younger
Jews are, according to the 2020 Pew
study. Attachment to Israel also
varied by religion, with Orthodox
Jews having the highest number of
participants saying they are very
attached to the Jewish state. About
60% of Jews with no particular denom-
inational affiliation say they are either
“not too” or “not at all” emotionally
attached to Israel.

The same survey reported that
Jewish Americans who were 65 and
older reported the strongest emotional
attachment to Israel. Most (90%) Jews
reporting a very or somewhat strong
attachment to Israel had been there
more than once. JE
hross@midatlanticmedia.com ANDY GOTLIEB | JEWISH EXPONENT EDITOR
F ormer Jewish Exponent Director
of Business Operations Cheryl
Lutts pleaded guilty in federal
court on June 28 to 24 counts of wire and
mail fraud involving both the Exponent
and subsequent employer the Philly Pops,
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Lutts, 43, of Philadelphia, admitted that
8 JULY 7, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
she used the money to pay off thousands
of dollars in credit card debts associated
with travel and lodging, legal services,
and funeral costs, as well as things such
as utility bills and her cellphone.

Lutts, who will be sentenced in
October, faces a maximum punishment
on each count of 20 years in prison, three
years of supervised release, a $250,000
fine and a $100 special assessment.

The Inquirer reported that Lutts
didn’t explain in court what prompted
the embezzlements, but her attorney,
Maranna J. Meehan, said Lutts was
undergoing outpatient treatment for
opioid addiction.

Prosecutors said Lutts siphoned
about $1.19 million from the Exponent
between 2016 and 2019, as well as about
$255,000 from The Philly Pops, where
she worked as controller after being
fired from the Exponent in August 2019.

Lutts, who was an Exponent employee
for 18 years, was fired for poor perfor-
mance before the fraud was discovered.

Her replacement found a fabricated
bank statement in Lutts’ desk drawer on
his first day on the job.

She concealed her actions with doc-
tored bank statements and secretly took
out a corporate credit card in her name. JE
agotlieb@midatlanticmedia.com Anton Litvintsev / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Former Exponent Business Manager
Pleads Guilty to $1.44M Fraud